And Now for Something Completely Different (15)

TO any child of the sixties there are two defining cultural moments - the arrival of The Beatles and Monty Python's Flying Circus. As The Beatles turned contemporary music on its head, so Monty Python did the same for comedy.

TO any child of the sixties there are two defining cultural moments - the arrival of The Beatles and Monty Python's Flying Circus. As The Beatles turned contemporary music on its head, so Monty Python did the same for comedy.

For anyone who did not live through the upheaval they created, it is difficult to appreciate their importance. At a time when the nearest thing to comic anarchy was an episode of the Telegoons, it is impossible to perceive the difference Messrs Cleese, Palin, Idle et al made to life.

This film was cobbled together by the team for RCA/Columbia from material from their first two BBC TV seasons. The idea was that the movie should have a release only in the United States. Quite what an American audience made of the Python's take on life back in the late sixties, I have no idea.

Whatever, the film marks a mid-point in the Python's TV output and contains, arguably, the very best of their work. That it still appears fresh and spontaneous after all these years and re-runs is probably the finest tribute that can be paid to the team.

As you watch the film, you begin to realise just what a debt we owe to Python. "Nudge, nudge, wink, wink'' is only one of numerous phrases that have passed into our contemporary culture.

The film also contains the greatest Python moment of them all - the unforgettable Lumberjack Song. In a couple of brilliant verses that song swept away the cobwebs of the grey post-war era. Who could ever take a Nelson Eddie-Jeannette Macdonald movie seriously after that?

It pays to watch this scene a couple of times so you can really concentrate on the lyrics of the song and it's clever construction.

And Now For Something Completely Different also contains my very favourite Python bit - The Dead Parrot Sketch. I almost choked on my supper when I saw it in flickering black and white all those years ago, and I still dare not watch and consume food at the same time. This truly is Cleese and Palin's finest Python moment.

VERDICT: Yes, it is still something completely different - still crazy after all these years. Highly recommended.